Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a genetic disease caused by lack of expression of genes from an imprinted region of the paternally inherited chromosome 15q11-q13, near the centromere (Aycan and Bas, J Clin Res Pediatr Endocrinol, 6(2):62-67 (2014)). The frequency of the disease is between about 1/10,000 and 1/30,000 with approximately 400,000 PWS patients living worldwide. PWS is a spectrum disorder which affects many systems in the body. Subjects with PWS typically suffer from a host of symptoms including neurologic, cognitive, endocrine, and behavioral abnormalities. Initially, infants exhibit hypotonia (floppy baby syndrome) and experience difficulty in sucking and feeding which can lead to growth delay. Subjects with PWS frequently have poor muscle tone, growth hormone deficiency, low levels of sex hormones, a constant feeling of hunger and excessive appetite (hyperphagia). They overeat, leading to weight gain, obesity and a high incidence of diabetes. Other signs appear including short stature, poor motor skills, underdeveloped sex organs, and mild intellectual and learning disabilities. PWS subjects may experience delayed speech and language development, and infertility. Behavioral symptoms may include cognitive impairment, cognitive rigidity, emotional lability and obsessive-compulsive behavior, with autistic symptomology, psychotic episodes, and biopolar disorder with psychosis. Additional clinical manifestations may include excessive daytime sleepiness, scoliosis, osteopenia/osteoporosis, decreased gastrointestinal motility, sleep disturbances, and reduced pain sensitivity.
PWS is the most common genetic neurodevelopmental disorder associated with obesity. Data indicates that PWS is associated with an approximate 50% reduction in plasma BDNF levels normalized to body weight (Han et al., J. Clin. Endo. Metab., 95, 3532-36 (2010)). Studies also show that selectively up-regulating BDNF in the hypothalamus inhibits appetite and weight gain in mice on a high fat diet, and at very high levels of expression using viral vector gene transfer causes severe weight loss in normal control chow fed mice (Cao, et al., Nat Med., 15(4):447-54 (2009)). BDNF appears to act downstream to other modulators of feeding, notably leptin and the MC4 receptor.
There is currently no cure for PWS. Growth hormone, exercise, and dietary supervision can help build muscle mass and control weight. Treatment with human growth hormone starting by 2 years of age has been reported to improve body composition, motor function, height, and lipid profiles. See, Carrel et al., J Clin Endocrinol Metab., 95(3):1131-1136 (2010 March). Other treatments may include oxytocin, sex hormones and behavior therapy. However, most people with PWS will need specialized care and supervision throughout their lives. There remains a need for improved and/or additional therapies for treating PWS.
Captodiamine (also known as captodiame) (2-[(4-butylsulfanylphenyl)-phenyl-methyl]sulfanyl-N,N-dimethylethanamine) was developed in the 1950's and is a derivative of the antihistamine diphenhydramine. Captodiamine was identified in a class of compounds designated as sedatives and antispasmodics. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 2,830,083, incorporated herein by reference. It was subsequently developed for treatment of anxiety disorders and marketed as an anxiolytic. The drug is not a potent hypnotic and appeared to be safe and well tolerated. Although no formal double blind randomized studies were carried out on captodiamine when it was initially marketed, it was widely prescribed.
Captodiamine was marketed as SUVREN® by Ayerst at the time notwithstanding the fact that there was a paucity of published studies. In the early 1960's the FDA DESI (Drug Evaluation & Safety Initiative) program was implemented, i.e., drugs which did not have compelling evidence of efficacy, strong proponents, or external champions, were essentially struck off the register, or removed from the approved list. Captodiamine was one such drug, and essentially disappeared.
In 1999, a comparative study on the effects of captodiamine and lorazepam on car driving ability was conducted (Mercier-Guyon, et al., Clin Drug Invest, 17 (6): 451-459 (1999)). Captodiamine, as compared to lorazepam, reportedly improved the concentration and dexterity of individuals when driving, without inducing a tendency to drowsiness. In another study, captodiamine treatment was associated with lower severity of benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms as compared to placebo (Mercier-Guyon et al., Curr Med Res Opin., 20(9):1347-1355 (2004)).
In 2013, a group from University College Dublin, published a paper in which they reported that captodiamine had activity as a sigma-1 receptor agonist as well as a 5-HT2C antagonist and dopamine D3 agonist (Ring and Regan, Journal of Psychopharmacology, 27(10):930-939 (2013)). Captodiamine was shown to increase brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) protein levels in the hypothalamus, but not in the cortex or the hippocampus. U.S. Pat. No. 8,461,389 describes use of captodiamine in the treatment of anxiety and/or depression associated with an affective disorder and/or symptoms associated with cognitive impairment disorder.